There Was Only You and Me
by If Wishes Were Blue Skies
Summary: an ongoing MaterLightning slash story. written with all of the characters as humans, and in Lightning's POV.
1. There's A Lot That I Could Say

**A/N:** First of all, I'm gonna warn you again and tell you that THIS IS A SLASH STORY! one male character romantically involved with another male character. such is the case with this story, anyway. so don't complain to me if you don't like it.

Second of all, I'm quite nervous about posting this. I originally wasn't planning to, but I've been encouraged to, so I did so, and I'm hoping it doesn't crash and burn like I think it will. This is a chaptered story, and I actually do have the next chapter finished, but I won't post it unless anyone wants me to. So please, if you liked this story and would like me to continue, pleasepleaseplease leave a review. It would make me oh so happy :D And yes, all of the characters are written out as humans. Just because it would've been like, impossible to write the goings-on of this story with them as cars XD. You'll see what I mean if chapter two is ever posted... so anyway, on with the story. -braces self-

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Cars, or any of its characters. The story, however, is mine. oh, and I don't own the lyrics to the song, "Heaven" with which I used for the title of this story, and this chapter. I only know of the remake DJ Sammy did, I'm not sure of who original wrote the song.

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"There Was Only You and Me"

"Chapter I - "There's A Lot That I Could Say"

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It was dark out as we drove home from the party. The town had decided to throw a surprise party for Flo and Ramone's tenth anniversary, and the celebration had continued on to the early morning. Looking at the clock on the radio now, it read 1:37 am.

But it had been fun. We all pitched in and booked a bowling alley outside of town, quite a ways down the highway, and we spent the time doing a bit of everything. Half the time we didn't even bowl, but just sat there and had fun with each other. I actually don't think I've eaten so much in one sitting before. And I was actually surprised to see how late it really was, since it hadn't seemed like we were there that long. But I guess that's what happens when you spend time with your friends.

It's still something I'm getting used to.

Now though, I was getting a ride back to town with Mater in his old tow truck, since my car was currently at Doc's getting fixed. And to be honest, well… I really would rather be elsewhere. We're not talking like we had been on the way here (I guess because we were both tired), and so I'm starting to think about things again.

There's been this… thing that goes through me every time I look at him now, and it came out of nowhere. One night we met up at the town's convenience store by chance, and we walked home together. And as we were talking, I looked over at him… and it hit me. It was like nothing I could ever remember feeling before, and it almost scared me. I refused to look him in the eye the rest of the way home. I don't think he noticed, but that was for the best. I had hoped that it would go away after I got some sleep, but it was still there the next day. I tried my hardest to ignore it, but that didn't work at all. It's there all the time now, every time I see him. But I try now to let it bother me. Avoiding him is the last thing I want to do. I doubt it work anyway.

I sigh, though as inwardly as possible, and carefully, so as to make sure he doesn't notice, I glance over at him. He has his same old hat with his junkyard's logo on it atop his head, reddish-brown hair that came down to just above his shoulders, and his ancient, weather-beaten brown flannel that I've yet to see him without. I've offered him to buy a new one quite a few times, but he refuses each time. He always says that it's "too old to be replaced." I don't understand it, but I stopped trying to understand his style of logic quite a while ago.

I averted my gaze back to the road ahead of us. Even though it was night out, you could still see quite a bit. There were no streetlights or any city lights to block out the natural glow of the moon and the stars, and this was one of the many things that I loved about living out here. On cloudless nights, things seemed even brighter than in the city, and so much more beautiful. Sometimes it's hard to believe that I didn't even know places like this existed. That if not for what had happened, I never _would_ have known this place existed, that any of my friends were even born.

I shuddered. It's almost scary to think about. I was so thankful for all of this happening to me. I've yet to live an unhappy day since I moved out here with everyone in Radiator Springs. Well… actually, I've only had one. And that was the day… Sally and I separated. Well… make that about five days. Maybe a week. I really don't remember. But we had been together for about five months, and it really had been the happiest time of my life. I loved her so much, but sometimes I would just get the feeling that… it wasn't enough. It wasn't Sally, not at all, but… to this day I don't know how to explain it. It just felt like something was missing. I brushed it off the first time I felt it, but it kept coming back, more frequently and stronger each time. And after a while, I decided to tell her about it, and it turned out that she was feeling the same thing. So… we decided to end the relationship, and though the breakup had been mutual, it still had me in a state of depression for a couple of days. Sally and I are still friends though, and I'm glad for that.

And now… there was this thing with Mater.

Tiredly, I stared ahead at the blurred white road lines, and I felt my eyelids start to grow heavy. Funny… I didn't feel this tired a few minutes ago. Maybe because it was warm out. I was always prone to sleepiness when it was warm enough. And the cool breeze coming in from the windows, the smell of the night air on the desert…

My eyes only halfway open, I turned my head toward Mater and looked at him for a little bit. I was glad he didn't look over, or else he might've been a little confused as to why I was staring at him with what could've been described as a zombie-ish look on my face. A thought crossed my mind… but no, I couldn't do that. Unless I wanted to be asked some questions I probably couldn't answer. But… I was so tired…

Before I could tell myself not to, I inched across the bench seat closer to him and rested my head against his shoulder. I closed my eyes, and suddenly felt so comfortable.

He jumped. "Lightnin', what –,"

"Mmmtired," I interrupted. My heart finally began to calm down. "Lemme sleep."

He didn't say anything, but I felt his shoulders relax right before I drifted off to sleep.

Something was poking me in the arm. Why? I moved to swat whatever it was away, but my whole body felt so heavy. I grumbled in frustration. The poking stopped for a moment, and then I heard someone say something. But they were so far away that I couldn't make out what it was. They should come closer if they want to talk to me.

And now the poking was starting up again. That was so annoying, why won't it stop?

"Lightnin'!" the voice now said. It was whispering, but in an urgent way.

"Hey, we're here!" it continued. Here? Where's here? The poking on my arm grew more persistent, and it was beginning to hurt. But now my senses were starting to come back to me. I was up against something warm, and the scent of sawdust and rusted metal filled my nostrils as I breathed. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant smell, but rather, made me feel at home. It kinda reminded me of someone, too…

My sense of movement suddenly returned to me, and I felt my eyes flutter open. Drowsily, I glanced around at my surroundings, and it only took me a moment to remember where I was. Mater and I had been on our way back to town, and I…

In a flash, I realized what the warm thing was that I was up against. My eyes shot open and I hoisted myself up, but only to find myself in an even more awkward position. I guess Mater had been looking down at me, and I moved to suddenly for him to react.

We were nose to nose with one another, eyes wide and staring into the other's. My heart pounded in my chest so hard that it almost hurt, and I felt my face grow hot. And I was pretty sure I could see some color in Mater's cheeks as well. With the truck off, the only light came from the moon, and there was an absolute silence around us.

"Mater, I…" I had found my voice for a moment, but then lost it again. I wanted to say something to him though, right? My mouth hung open stupidly, and I didn't dare move. I didn't know what to say. Why was it that I haven't moved away yet? The guy was my best friend, and… a guy! Why the hell don't I want to move away, but… move closer? And why hasn't he moved either?

I saw his mouth move slightly, as if to say something, but I guess he was at a loss for words as well. It's not like I could blame him though. Here we were, two friends in a dark vehicle, completely alone, and in closer proximity than two friends should ever be. I could even feel his breath…

All of a sudden, the feeling that had been plaguing me every time I saw him hit me like a tidal wave, one hundred times stronger than it ever had been. I nearly jumped, but I managed not to. But… I couldn't take it anymore. As slowly as I could, I shifted myself the tiniest bit forward, my heart rate increasing by the second. My eyes began to close, and when Mater didn't show any signs of protesting, I kept going. I had no clue what it was that I was doing, but God did it feel good.

But then it happened. My lips brushed over his, and all at once reality came flying back at me. My eyes grew wide, and I jumped away from him as quickly as I could. For a moment, I just stared at him, absolutely terrified of the situation. I thought he was going to kick me out of his truck and never speak to me again, but he just stared right back. His green eyes wider than before, and his mouth hanging open in a stupor behind his two large front teeth. And he didn't look angry at all, but just confused and shocked.

Desperately, I grabbed hold of the door handle and yanked it open. "Thanks for the ride," I muttered before hopping out of the truck.


	2. Just Hold Me Now

A/N: Well... here be the second chapter, everyone! to tell the truth, I wasn't planning on continuing this story, but there are two people I'd like to thank for persuading me to do so.

First be meh buddy Sa-Chan. I could never ignore a request from her, plus she told me I'd only continue the story if I valued my life XD. so many huggles to her!

Second is NAMEANDADDRESSWITHHELD. She's the only other person who gave me a positive review, so many kudos to you, man! plus, she's got a Lightning/Sally story going, and it's really nice that you're open minded n' stuff while at the same time liking the canon pairing. most sally/lightning fans are like, "OMFG SLASH EW." so yeah, you're really cool -

So without any further ado, here be teh second chapter! Oh, and I'M WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW that this chapter is the reason for the story's PG-13 rating. and it's for sexuality, go figure. nothing explicit or nothin' but still beyond my normal cutecute fluffbunny stories, so to say.

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Disclaimer: See chapter one, pweeze.

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"There Was Only You and Me"

Chapter II - "At Peace"

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I walked as fast as I possibly could (without running) to my front porch. Still trembling, I fished my keys out of my pocket, found the right one, and unlocked the door, but didn't go in. For a moment, I stood there with my back facing the yard, trying to collect my thoughts from their scrambled state.

What was going on? I almost… no, there was contact, so I… did kiss him. I just… kissed my best friend. I covered my mouth with my hand, unsure of whether I was going to pass out or vomit. Not out of disgust, but out of confusion.

Then I realized that I hadn't heard his truck pull out of the driveway. I turned around to see what he was doing, only to find myself face to face with him. We both jumped backward, both having startled the other. I hadn't even heard him get out of the truck, or come up the porch steps.

His startled expression then faded into an uncharacteristically serious one. He opened his mouth once, but no sound came out. He closed it, looking frustrated, and was still for a few moments more. But then he finally spoke.

"Is that it?" he asked.

I looked at him, confused.

"'Thanks for the ride'?"

Oh.

"Now I know'd I ain't the smartest needle in the haystack, but I know'd that that ain't what you been wantin' to say to me."

To tell the truth, I never thought I would ever hear Mater talk with such sincerity. It almost made me chuckle, but I could imagine that wouldn't help the situation much. The bad thing was though, was that he was right, and he knew that I had wanted to talk to him. But how was I supposed to explain that even I didn't know what it was that I wanted to talk to him about?

I continued to look up at him. He was looking at me with a desperate look in his eyes, as if hoping I would give him the answers that he wanted to hear. But that could've meant any of two things. One was that I would just say that what happened in the truck was nothing, that I wasn't thinking clearly because I was half asleep. And two would be that I just come right out and say that I felt the same way for him that he must for me and -

Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Feelings! Where'd that come from? Now it just sounds like I'm in… in…

No, no, no, that couldn't be it. There was absolutely no way Besides, I would've known if it was, I felt it with Sally before we broke up, and this is something completely different. It…

Oh Lord, no it wasn't. It… the feeling I have for him has a lot of the same things I felt for Sally, but… it was stronger. A lot stronger. What the hell was this! I suddenly felt so helpless.

"Jeepers Lightnin', what's wrong?" Mater suddenly asked me.

"Huh?" I choked out. He reached out a hand toward my face. What was he …

"You're cryin'," he stated worriedly. I was! When did this happen?

Hurriedly, I reached up and wiped at my eyes with my shirt sleeve. Pulling it away, I saw that there was quite a damp spot. That was so weird, I didn't even notice, or feel myself crying. And why was I even crying in the first place?

I noticed out of the corner of my eye Mater dejectedly put his hand back down. And based upon that alone, I had a feeling that he didn't want to hear me say that what just happened between us meant nothing to me. He… felt something for me.

I was hopelessly lost at this point, so I decided to go out on a limb. "What is this, Mater?" I asked with a tiny sniffle. He looked at me, and didn't look confused at all by what I meant.

"I… don't know," he said. "But…" He paused, and hesitantly took a step toward me. "What just happened… in the truck I mean, it was… well, it felt… good."

My heart leapt at his words. But as I looked at him, it was clear that he was having a hard time getting out what he wanted to say.

He continued. "I guess I just… want to know if… did you…?"

Without really thinking, I took a step toward him, and after his movement toward me, there wasn't much space between us now. This was enough to get him to stop speaking, but I already knew what he was going to ask.

And I already knew my answer. "Yeah, Mater… I did."

His eyes lit up in that childish way they always did when he was happy. But behind that, something much deeper shone in his eyes. "Really?" he asked. "You felt -,"

"Yes," I answered. "I don't know why, or where it came from…"

I took another tiny step forward, and the happiness in his expression quickly melted into a dazed one.

"But I do know…" It was becoming increasingly harder for me to talk. It felt like my heart was going to leap out of my throat at any second. We were so close now, and I was suddenly thankful for the fact that it was nearly two in the morning. I could only imagine what would happen if someone were to walk by right now.

We grew closer still. "I do know… that I want -,"

The touch of his lips on mine silenced me completely. Even gentler than it had been in the truck, almost as if to make sure I wouldn't run away again. And when I didn't, he made a move to apply more pressure to the kiss. As carefully as he could, his hands made their way to my shoulders. It was obvious that it was his first time doing anything like this. So I brought my arms up and around his neck, pulling him closer.

I felt numb. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before in my life, and there were absolutely no words to describe it. Something inside of me let go, and it felt beyond wonderful. After weeks of having that horrible tension inside of me every time I saw him, it completely evaporated into our kiss. I… never wanted it to end. This was the first time in my life that I felt as if I didn't have anything to care about. The world could've ended around us, and it wouldn't have mattered. I never felt this light before, I never even felt this way when I was with Sally. But I wasn't going to concern myself with her at the moment.

My knees started to feel weak, and it only took a couple of seconds for me to fall down to them, dragging Mater down with me. Our kiss still didn't end, but after a few seconds we parted and looked at one another. At some point during the kiss, my hands had wandered to his chest, and his had found their way through my hair. Both of us were breathing heavily.

And then he smiled at me, and I swear I almost melted. No sight in my life had ever made me feel more elated. I let out a small chuckle, and I felt tears well up in my eyes again. Blinking them away, I smiled back at him.

"Dang'gum," he said in an 'I can't believe it' tone. "Boy I tell you what, I never thought I could be happier than I was on the day I opened up my junkyard."

He stopped, and then leaned in and pressed his forehead against mine. "But ya sure proved me wrong," he finished. I laughed again, and with that, I pulled him closer to me, and kissed him again. My arms snaked around his middle and I clung onto his flannel. And all in an instant, the laughter and innocence was gone. I felt one of his hands travel to my mid-back, and the other found itself a spot on the back of my head, where Mater took it upon himself to deepen the kiss.

And to think that when I first met the guy, I thought he was this repulsive, unintelligent hillbilly who was nothing but an annoyance. And now here I was, holding on to him for dear life, kissing him with all that I had in me.

Funny little world, wasn't it?

It was then that Mater suddenly pushed me closer to the front door, but without breaking the kiss. He grabbed hold of my upper arms and gently slid me backward. I let out a muffled "mmph" as I felt my back make contact with the wood of the door.

I had no clue why he was doing this, but I really didn't care. Nor was I about to break away from him to ask. I'd ask later.

I moved my hands upward away from his back, and up to his head, entangling my fingers with his hair. It was unusually soft, something I didn't expect, so I pulled off his hat and tossed it on the porch somewhere so that I could touch more of it. I think that under any other circumstance, he would've run off after it, but at the moment he obviously didn't care what was on his body or not.

I immediately blushed as the thought had crossed my mind. God, I just figured out how I felt about him. I didn't need to be thinking about… well, that.

If I could've, I would've shaken my head. But without doing so, I cleared my head the best I could. I wasn't going to let my nervousness of what was going on kill the moment. I'm sure Mater was just as nervous about it as I was anyway. So I kept on clinging to him, absorbing every second that passed like it was the most valuable treasure on Earth. And to me… it was.

After what felt like hours, we finally broke apart. I felt flushed all over, and I was panting like crazy. How long had that lasted? I felt like I hadn't breathed in hours. But that's how long it could've been since we got out of the truck, for all I knew.

Mater then leaned in and kissed me quickly on the lips, and then moved downward and began planting soft kisses on my neck. Each one was warm, and left a tingling sensation behind. I felt something inside of me ignite, and it took all I had not to let out a gasp. My hands still rested on his neck, but my fingers were now digging into his skin.

God, who knew he had it in him?

"Mater," I whispered, trying to get his attention. There was no way we could keep this up out here.

A few seconds later, I heard an "Mm?" come from him. I put one of my hands down onto the porch floor, the other still hanging onto his neck. He was kissing my collarbone now.

"We should probably…" I paused for a moment to regain my composure. "Go inside."

For a few moments, I wondered if he heard me, because he didn't stop. I was about to repeat myself though, when he finally lifted his head away from my neckline. And for some reason, he suddenly looked terrified.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't've gone so far," he said out of nowhere. "I just…" He didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he started to stand up, and for a moment I wondered if he was going to leave. Just incase though, I immediately reached out and grabbed his hand before he could go anywhere else. Why did he get so upset all of a sudden? Where did he get the idea that I was mad at him?

"Mater…" I didn't know what to say. With a bit more effort than usually needed because my whole body was weak at this point, I pushed myself up onto my feet. I looked up at the man before me, who was looking back down at me, looking as though terrified I was going to punch him in the face.

I raised my other hand to his face and rested it on his cheek. "Mater, what are you talking about?" I asked. He didn't expect that one. "I didn't mind, there's nothing for you to apologize for."

He hung his head downward, and then looked back up at me. "Really?" he asked in a childish voice. I laughed. "Of course," I said immediately. "I don't know where you got the idea that I did. I mean, I…"

My smile vanished. My gaze drifted to the wood by my feet, and I began to think. Was it… really? It was too late to go back on anything now, but was that really what I felt for him? I didn't want to tell him anything that wasn't true, but…

I turned my eyes back to his once again, and all at once, I knew. I knew this wasn't just out of loneliness from losing Sally. This wasn't some spur of the moment, never gonna happen again thing. What I felt for him truly had to be…

"Love…"

Mater raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

I rested my gaze upon him once again. Smiling, I finally said, "I… I love you, Mater."

His eyes shot open, and he looked at me incredulously. And for a good few seconds, he stayed like that, completely frozen. Though after a while he finally managed to smile. He placed his other hand atop the one I had on his cheek, and smiled at me like I've never seen him smile before. And I've seen him smile a lot. But out of the millions of times I've seen him happy over something, this was truly the happiest I've ever seen him. Then I noticed the tears that were shining over in his eyes, and I brushed them away as they fell.

"Lightnin', I… I never thought this coulda…" he said between chuckles. But it was like the kind of laugh that you let out when you come across something absolutely unbelievable. It started to concern me for a moment, but then his laughter subsided, and he looked at me with sincerity again. He then took both of his hands and placed them on either side of my face.

"I love you too," he whispered to me in a tone I didn't even know existed. And then he brought me in for our fourth kiss that night, but it was much lighter than the one we had shared beforehand. This one was more of a reassurance, letting each other know how the other felt, and how much we meant it. It didn't last long, either. But when we parted, I took hold of his hand, smiled at him, and lead him inside the house.

Once we were inside and I had closed the door, it didn't take long for us to pick up where we had left off before. He sat me down on the couch in the living room and began kissing at the nape of my neck again. The best I could with the angle we were in, I began unbuttoning the white shirt he wore underneath his flannel, and the rushing feeling that went through me as I did so was incredible. This was my first time… um… undressing anyone. And as I realized this, I blushed even more so than I already was. But despite the fact that I could barely feel my fingers now, I kept going down the line.

He pulled away from me, and the look in his eyes was indescribable. For a moment, we stood still, just taking in the moment, and taking in what it was we were actually doing. What we were about to do. Our eyes voiced the same question of assurance to one another. Are you sure? Are you sure you're sure? And when neither of us protested the situation, we kept going.

He leaned in and kissed me, and I returned it with much fervor. His hands moved to the collar of my shirt and he began to unbutton it. A shiver went down my spine and I tried my hardest not to start trembling. But when he got to the bottom, it was more difficult than ever. Breaking away from the kiss, he gently pushed the shirt down off of my shoulders, his hands brushing across my now bare skin. I drew in a sharp breath at the touch, more shivers going through me. But once the dizziness blew over, I shook the sleeves away from my wrists, and tossed the shirt to the middle of the room somewhere. His hands moved up to my neck, and upward into my hair, and there was a warmth like no other that came with his touch. I took hold of one of his hands and placed it on my chest, kept it still for a moment, then slowly dragged it down my skin. Mater's blush grew a deeper shade of red at this, and he looked so cute at that moment that I almost laughed. But instead, I just smiled at him and let go of his hand. He let it linger in the spot right below my ribcage for a second, but then brought it up a little ways. He put his other hand near the same spot, and gently began to push me onto my back, and I gladly succumbed to it.

I was now quite underneath him, but still propped up a bit by one of the couch pillows. At some point we started kissing again, and I reached up to him to finish unbuttoning his undershirt. Once I finished with the last one, I peeled both layers of clothing off of him at the same time. He moved to pull them off, but carefully enough so as not to break away from the kiss. And for quite a while we did nothing but stay locked in each other's hold, and sharing a very passionate kiss.

But when we did finally part, I couldn't help but let out a tiny "oh" as I looked at him. Shirtless, no hat, brown hair going this way and that, and a look in his sparkling emerald eyes that that said to me, 'I love you and only you… so very, very much.' God, how did I ever think he was an eyesore? Right now there were no words for how beautiful he looked to me, and I wanted nothing more than to take all of him in at once. So I reached up and placed my hands on his shoulders, and pulled him closer to me. Immediately he began kissing my neck again like it was an assigned job, though now that my shirt was no longer in the way, he continued on down to my chest. And now instead of them being warm, his kisses turned hot on my skin, and I let out the smallest of moans. My fingers dug deeper into his shoulder, leaving little white imprints.

And then, all at once, I felt at ease. Despite his kisses moving further and further downward, despite our heavy breathing, despite the passion that so thickly hung in the air, I felt more at peace with everything than I ever had before in my life. I'd only heard of this kind of happiness in movies and books, never in reality. But if I were to guess on how it felt to those characters in love stories to be with the one they loved, I would be pretty confident in saying that what I felt now was close to it, if not the same thing.

About a year ago I never would have thought about finding this kind of bliss with anyone else. Sure, I wanted women, but nothing concerning real feelings, or love. But now, there was nowhere else on the planet that I would rather be than in the embrace I was in with Mater right now.

Nowhere…


	3. To There and Back Again

**A/N:** Hey there everyone! I'm sorry for the delays getting this story up. I really don't know why it's taking me so long, I mean, I have it all but the last chapter written already. But I knew I had to at least post one chapter before I leave tomorrow morning for four days. I promise though that once I get back, I'll have another one up for you! -

and a big thanks to you guys who reviewed! I really love you all. all two of ya. XD nah, jk. but anyway, on with teh chapter:D

**Disclaimer:** see chapter one

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"There Was Only You and Me"

Chapter III - "To There and Back Again"

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The sunlight pouring into the window was what woke me up the next morning. I blinked a few times to let my eyes focus a bit, and then let me gaze rest on the sleeping figure beside me. Mater was sleeping on his side facing me, his arms loose around my middle. His tousled brown hair hung in his eyes, so I reached over and tucked it behind his ear, and all the while I smiled like an idiot. Memories of the night before ran through my mind, and my heart almost melted on the spot, but I felt myself blush as well. I had never seen it coming… but I was so glad that it did.

For a few minutes, I just laid there looking on at him – my new lover. Oh, it felt incredible to call him that. My smile grew wider as I let my fingers play idly with his hair. Gently though, I didn't want to wake him up. He looked so peaceful…

After a little while more, my body began to grow stuff, and even though I didn't want to, I knew I had to get up.

We were still on the couch, and it was a good thing I had ended up on the outside. It would've been quite difficult to get up off the couch without waking Mater up first. So, reluctantly, I slowly hoisted myself up and away from the warm cushions. And as carefully as possible, I removed his arms from me. I watched as he pulled them closer to himself, mumbling something quietly that I couldn't understand. I smiled again, and bent downward to plant a soft kiss on his forehead. When I pulled away, I looked at him for a few seconds more, and then made my way to the bathroom to start off the day with a shower.

Ten or so minutes later, I opened up the bathroom door to let the steam out. I wore a pair of black jeans, but I didn't bother with a shirt just yet. I always waited until my hair was dry, just because it was a pet peeve of mine when I got my shirt damp with my hair. So at the moment, I had only a towel around my neck.

I walked into the kitchen from the hallway and I stopped to glance into the living room. I le out a small chuckle as I saw that he was still fast asleep on the couch, I never though I would ever call something adorable, but that was the only fitting term for him at that moment.

My stomach growling knocked me out of my reverie. I turned my head to look at the clock and saw that it was already 11:17 am. It was no wonder I was hungry, I was usually finished with breakfast near 8:30 or so every morning. But I guess I slept in because last night must've taken a toll on me.

So I walked over to the fridge and opened it. After looking inside for a few minutes to see what I had, I decided on French toast. I grabbed the needed ingredient, plus a littler extra, figuring that Mater would be hungry too when he woke up.

About ten minutes later as I was dipping two slices o bread into the batter mix, everything suddenly went black. I couldn't see anything.

"Guess who," said his voice from behind me.

I smiled. "G'morning, Mater," I stated casually as I expertly tossed the bread into the frying pan. He pulled his hands away.

"Aww, how'd ya know it was me?" he pouted. I turned to look at him as I drowned another two bread slices in the batter. He had thrown his pants and white undershirt back on.

"Lucky guess," I told him after a few seconds. He sat down at the kitchen table and began fiddling with the pepper shaker.

"Yeah, I figured as much," he replied with a goofy smile. My adoration for him fluttered to life, making me want to go over and hug him. But I didn't think he wanted batter all over him.

"So whattcha makin'?" he then asked. I turned back to the bread and put the last two pieces in the frying pan.

"French toast," I told him as I began emptying the left over batter into the sink drain. "You gonna want any?" I turned my head to look at him.

He smiled. "Are you kiddin'? I love the stuff!" he said excitedly. I laughed. He was so easily pleased.

When the food was done, we sat and ate together at the kitchen table. We talked quite a bit, mostly about the party last night. But it made me think a little. It was so hard to believe that at that party, Mater was just my friend… my best friend. He still was of course, but now he was also so much more. He sat before me, now the most beloved person in my life. And less than a day ago, he wasn't. It was just sorta weird to think about.

Mater was in the middle of telling me about a fiasco that had occurred while he and Guido had been out buying balloons for the party when we heard someone knock on the door. He stopped dead in his sentence, and didn't even look at the door, but just stared at me. I stared back, my heart rate suddenly quickening, and unable to move.

Whoever it was knocked again after a few more seconds. Mater didn't move at all, and it was then that I really felt an appreciation for him. Even though he quite a few screws loose, he seemed to have a good understanding for people's feelings. He understood why it was that I haven't moved to answer the door yet, that what was going on was something to be concerned about as far as everyone else in town was concerned. I hadn't even given that any thought until now.

But I knew I couldn't ignore them, it might arouse even more questions. So I stood up from my chair and began to walk into the living room. I heard Mater get up from behind me, and soon afterward and I felt one of his hands enclose around mine. I stopped for a moment and turned to look at him. He was smiling at me in a reassuring kind of way, and I smiled back. I intertwined my fingers with his, gave his hand a soft squeeze, and kept going toward the door. Once in front of it, I stood still for a moment. The person knocked again, causing me to jump. I heard Mater giggle, and I gave him a warning look. He stifled another laugh, and then motioned for me to open the door. And I felt him pull his hand away from mine just before I did so.

It was Sally. For a moment, we both looked surprised to see each other and didn't say anything. Though I don't know why she would be surprised to see me at my own house…

But after a few seconds, she seemed to recompose herself, and cleared her throat. "Hey Lightning," she said cheerily. "Hey," I replied, nodding my head once in recognition.

Her gaze drifted to Mater beside me. "There you are!" she exclaimed. We looked at her, confused.

"Well," she began. "I noticed that you hadn't opened your junkyard for the day, so I headed over to your house to see if you were okay, like maybe you were sick or something. But your truck wasn't in the driveway, and I just happened to notice it parked here from down the street."

Oh shoot. It would be easy enough explaining why he was here, I've had him over quite a few times. But now there was the subject of why he hadn't opened up his junkyard. Even when he wasn't feeling good, Mater always made sure it was open. I guess with all that happened, it just slipped his mind. And as I turned to glance at him, it looked like I guessed right.

"And I noticed…" Sally continued after a few seconds. "That the driver's side door was left open, too." My gaze snapped back to her, and then over to his truck. She was right, the door was open. He… left it open in a rush to catch me before I went in the house last night.

"And…" Oh god, now what? She moved her hand from behind her back, and I literally felt my heart sink down to my stomach. She was holding Mater's hat. "I came up here to knock and I saw this over there by the window," she explained.

I didn't dare look over at Mater. How was I supposed to explain how that got there as well?

"Oh, well…" I tried my hardest to make it sound like it was no big deal. "That's just uh…"

Mater chuckling from beside me stopped me. "Now ya see, Miss Sally, I was on my way to the junkyard when this mighty strong wind came outta nowhere right as I was goin' past Lightnin's house here. Blew my hat right off my head! It landed here on his porch, and I was in such a rush to get it back, I didn't bother closin' the truck door after I parked."

I turned my head to look at him, completely shocked. He was completely calm, casual as though what he said happened really was true. I couldn't believe it.

"And Lightnin' noticed me pull up I guess, n' he invited me in for some breakfast," he continued. He laughed for a second before going on. "Looks like I just ended up forgettin' about it out here anyway. And I was just about to head back out when you knocked."

I couldn't say anything. All I could do was smile as casually as I could at Sally, and nod in agreement with what he said.

Sally just smiled. "Oh, okay," she stated. "I was just wondering." She handed him his hat, and he placed it back on top of his head.

"I guess I better get goin' then," he stated. I looked over at him, about to ask what he was talking about, but then I realized that he had to leave. For one, he had to go tend to the junkyard, and two, he couldn't tell Sally that he was just about to leave and then stay. I suddenly felt sad, but I could only watch as he went over by the couch and slipped his boots back on and picked up his flannel from the middle of the floor. It was a good thing Sally hadn't been paying attention.

He came back to the door, but before he left, he turned to me. "Thanks for breakfast," he said as if that's all it had been. I knew he didn't mean it, but it still made me feel horrible. But I tried my best to smile and replied with a "no problem." He smiled, and then turned to Sally.

"Do you want a ride back to your house?" he offered. She just smiled and shook her head politely. "No thanks, Mater. I'll walk, I don't mind," she answered.

"Well okay," he replied, and then began walking over to his truck. Sally followed, but stopped when she got to the sidewalk. She turned to Mater, waved goodbye, and then made her way down the street. We both waved back simultaneously until she was out of sight. And then we looked at one another.

"I'll… see you later?" I called out to him tentatively. He smiled.

"Yeah, of course," he replied. And with that, he hopped into his truck and closed the door. But just before he could start the engine, I called his name. He looked back to me through the windshield.

"I…" I started, but then cut off. I wanted to say it to him, but I knew I couldn't go shouting it across kingdom come.

'I love you,' I mouthed to him with a smile.

His smile only grew wider as he then turned his keys in the ignition to start the engine. 'You too,' he mouthed back. And then he backed up out of the driveway, and waved goodbye to me just before driving out of sight.


	4. Who's to Say?

A/N: Sorry for the shorty chapter here. But I must thank you all for reviewing, I really do love getting them and hearing you guys think of this story! - It's what keeps me posting this thing, so yeah :D I really hope you like this one!

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

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"There Was Only You and Me"

Chapter IV - "Who's to Say?"

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It was 1:45 in the afternoon now, and by now I was usually in town helping somebody with something. Since my racing career only took place for half of the year, I spent the other half helping out around town in any way I could. It wasn't something I was assigned to do, but just something I wanted to do, and it kept me busy. But there were days when I would take the day off and just lounge around the house.

Today was one of those days.

For a while, I just cleaned. The house wasn't that big, so I never minded doing it, and I never got it that dirty to begin with. But when I was done withthe cleaning, I plopped myself down onto the couch, burying my head in the cushions.

His scent still lingered there, I took note of as I breathed. I hugged the nearest pillow closer to myself, and I lied there for quite a while. I almost fell asleep, but I made myself get up as I started nodding off for the umpteenth time. I couldn't nap, it would wreck my sleeping pattern.

Thoughts of Mater kept running through my mind without me even realizing it. I missed him, and I only last saw him a couple of hours ago. God, I was acting like a lovesick teenaged girl. I shook my head and put the pillow back with the others. It wasn't like he didn't live right down the street from me, and where he was right now was only a ten-minute walk from here…

A light bulb flickered on in my head. Wow, how stupid was I? I could just walk down and see him right now, right? Yeah! I'm sure he wouldn't mind, I've visited him over there before, even helped him out a couple of times. And it wasn't like it was the most attention-hogging job in the world.

So I stood up, slipped my shoes on, and headed out the door. I had to blink a few times to let my eyes adjust to the light. I looked up to the sky and noticed that there weren't any clouds, so the sun had the chance to shine all it wanted. I was glad I wasn't born with sensitive skin, or else I would have to put on sunscreen or something every time I came outside around here.

I walked across my front lawn and onto the sidewalk. Looking to the right of me, customers to all of the shops crowded the streets. It really made me smile every time I saw the town crowded with other people than just the residents. It had been quite a while since Radiator Springs had been put back on the map, but I'll never get tired of watching my friends smile as another customer leaves their shop.

A few seconds later, I finally turned the other way and started walking down the street toward the other end of the town. His junkyard was the first thing you saw when you entered the town, and the last thing on the way out.

I thought about things a bit as I walked. Mainly about how… fast things were going between us. I mean, we haven't even been 'together' for a whole day and we already went just about as far as a couple can go. And I can't figure out if it was a good thing or not. I can't imagine that it's a horrible thing, but still… it just seemed a little out of the ordinary. Sally and I were together for a whole five months and hardly ever got close to doing anything sexual. But ten minutes after the first kiss, Mater and I…

My face began to grow hotter than it already was, despite the sun.

That's not to say that I regret it. Far from it, but it was still something to think about. Most couples wait a while, don't they? Like… to make sure they feel for each other enough, and trust each other, right? That's what I always thought, anyway. But maybe it just meant that we didn't need time to figure those things out. That once we kissed, we already knew. I know that's how I felt, anyway. I trusted him with my very life, always have,and I know he feels just as deeply for me as I do for him. If he didn't, I would've sensed it in the way he held me, kissed me, even looked at me. But even so, I still had to wonder…

Looking up from the sidewalk, I noticed that I had made it to the shed right beside the junkyard where he stayed in during most of the day. He only needed to come out to talk to customers and whatnot anyway. So I made my way to the open doorway and walked inside.

"Mater?" I called out as I walked into the small building. I walked past a few stacked boxes and saw him standing near a corner, grabbing things from a pile and placing them into a crate he was holding. He looked up to see who had called to him, and smiled when he saw me.

"Howdy, Lightnin'!" he greeted happily.

"Hey, Mater," I replied, smiling as well. "What're you doing?"

He put the crate on the floor next to his feet and grabbed a white rag that was lying on a nearby box, and began to wipe his hands with it.

"Nothin', just doin' a little reorganizing," he told me as he walked over to me.

"So what've you been up to?" he asked as he looked down at me. For a moment I was silent, for some reason unable to think of what to say. But then my mind snapped back to reality.

"Oh, uh… same thing," I stated casually. "Just cleaning around the house."

After that, neither of us said anything for a little while. We just stood there. But then it suddenly hit me how much I had missed him, and I took a step closer to him, and wrapped my arms around his middle. I let my head rest against his chest, and my eyes drifted shut. For a moment, he seemed a little surprised at my sudden move, but immediately relaxed and locked his arms around my shoulders, his cheek coming to rest on the top of my head.

It felt amazing. It was then that I realized that nothing we do together will ever feel the same way. Right now, it was like I was experiencing the softer part of our feelings for each other. I could feel his presence all around me, and it felt like my heart was going to fly away somewhere. He began rocking me back and forth ever so slightly, and it only added to the peaceful feeling. I probably could've fallen asleep just like that.

But then I remembered what I had been contemplating on the way here. I inwardly sighed. So much for the perfection of the moment. But I knew I had to ask him.

"Mater?" I said softly into his shirt.

"Mm?" he answered quietly.

I didn't answer right away. I felt… scared to ask him. Would he be angry, or upset thatI'd even ask him?I took a breath.

"Mater, you… do you… regret what happened last night with how far things went?"

As soon as I got the words out, he seemed to stiffen a bit. I winced. Maybe I shouldn't have…

Suddenly, his hands slid to my shoulders, and he pulled away from me. I looked at him, and he looked angry. Oh no, he was really upset at me now. I didn't mean to… I didn't think he would really get angry, I really shouldn't have asked him.

But then he quickly leaned in and kissed me. I felt my stomach do a back flip inside of me, and I jumped at the contact. I didn't know what to do… I guess he wasn't mad, but…

Before I had a chance to so anything though, he pulled away and looked at me. But now he had a smile on his face.

"I couldn't regret it if I wanted to," he stated simply. "It… really was the best night of my life."

My expression melted into a smile. How could I ever have questioned him? He was so perfect when it came to the ones he cared about, why would he do something knowing he would run away from it later? I smiled at him and threw my arms around his neck, pulling him close to me and kissing him deeply. He quickly returned the kiss with just as much feeling, his arms going around my shoulders once more.

God, I would never get tired of this… not ever.


	5. With All That I Am

A/N: new chapter, yaaaay! and I gotta say that this is my favorite chapter out of all of them ('cept for the second one, ahaha), I had a lot of fun writing this one. lots of angsty drama, yay XD. but a lot of OOC-ness in my opinion too, I think Lightning's really, uh... well, not Lightning in this chapter. but lemme know what you think, since that's what matters.

Disclaimer: See chapter one.

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"There Was Only You and Me"

Chapter V - "With All That I Am"

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A week went by. And with everyday that we spent together, it always felt like the first few minutes. Every kiss, every embrace, every moment that we shared always felt like something new to me. And maybe it was. But either way, I was as happy as anyone could ever be. Each night he would walk over from his house (so that there was no vehicle in the driveway) and spend the night, and we could just talk and talk for hours. Usually he sat on the couch while I laid my head in his lap when we talked to each other. Most of the time, this was how the night was spent, one of us talking the other to sleep, and we'd have to wake the other up and we'd both go into the bedroom.

We've only gone as far as we did the first night three times, but I think we were both just fine with that. I really just enjoyed sitting and listening to him talk, probably because he never has anything negative to say. He makes me forget about anything I might have to worry about.

In the morning though, he always left a little earlier than usually needed to go back to his house before work. One reason was so he could have time to get ready before he needed to be there, and another was that no one was usually outside until a little later. We knew it would be a little hard to explain why it was that he was coming out of my house every morning if anyone noticed.

This was a new thing that was starting to run itself through my brain lately. We had talked about it a little bit, but not all that much. Our secrecy. I knew we couldn't keep it from the town forever, and I'm pretty sure he knew that as well. And nor do I really want to. But… it wasn't like we could climb on top of Willy's Butte and announce it to the whole town like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Not that I thought of our relationship as unordinary, but I knew that others might.

The sound of the door closing broke me out of my thoughts. I was sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee in my hands. I looked into the living room and saw him standing there taking his boots off. Smiling, I stood up and walked over to greet him with the usual kiss.

"Hey there," he said once we broke apart. I greeted back with a simple 'hello' as I took his flannel off and hung it on the coat hanger.

"Do you want some coffee?" I asked him, leading him into the kitchen. "I just made a pot a couple of minutes ago."

"Sure, why not?" he said.

He sat down in one of the chairs as I pulled a mug out of the cabinet, and poured the dark liquid into it. I asked him how his day was, and he began telling me about a customer who had come by and ended up chatting with him for near an hour about the 'junk business' as he called it. And as he spoke, I added the amount of sugar and cream that he preferred into the mug, and I listened. Turning around, I handed him the mug and he took hold of it with a 'thank you.'

He continued talking and I sat down, taking a sip out of my own mug.

"So, Lightnin'," he said after a few minutes. I looked and him and watched his fingers as they traced the rim of his coffee mug. It didn't take much for me to notice that he was nervous about something.

"I was wonderin'…" he trailed off for a moment and then looked up at me. "How long're we gonna… keep this a secret?"

Looking down at my own mug, I said, "I don't know."

It was silent for a few minutes more before he spoke again. "Well we're gonna hafta tell 'em some time."

I knew that. Ii would be impossible for us to keep it from them forever. But…

"I can't…" I mumbled.

Silence engulfed us once more, and for a quite a while, too. I almost wondered if he had heard me.

"Whaddaya mean?" he then questioned softly.

I gripped my mug tighter. Didn't he get it? "I mean, Mater, that we can't tell them," I told him in a tone harsher than necessary. I wasn't looking at him, but could tell that he flinched. I could've punched myself.

"Why?" he asked, his voice sounding hurt. God, why did I have to snap at him? I couldn't stand to hear him like that.

I sighed but I didn't reply. I knew I wasn't making things any better, and the conversation already took a turn for the worst. But I didn't know what to tell him. I didn't even have a good grip on the situation, let alone know what to do with it.

"But they're our friends," he suddenly said. "And I feel like I'm lyin' to them."

I sigh again. "It's because they're our friends that we can't tell them!" I exclaimed. Finally looking at him, I saw him visibly jump as I shouted. I don't know why I was getting so frustrated. But how can he be so willing to tell them something that could just as well get them to hate us? I don't… I can't, I'm not strong enough…

I stood up from the table and turned away from him. I couldn't look at his eyes anymore, so full of hurt now.

"Lightnin'… what're y–,"

"I'm scared, okay!" I shouted at the wall. Suddenly, it was all so overwhelming. It had been worrying me since the day we had to lie to Sally about him being here, and it's just been building up since then. "It's because they're our friends that I'm scared to let them know!" I had to stop to choke back a sob that was building up in my throat. Oh great, now I was crying. "What if they don't accept it! What if they hate us for it!" Tears were falling from my eyes freely now, but I didn't care enough to wipe them away.

I turned abruptly to look at him, only to find him standing right in front of me. In an instant, he had me in his arms, one hand smoothing my hair in a comforting way. I grabbed fistfuls of the front of his shirt, burying my face in his chest.

"They won't hate us," he told me softly. There was such a surety in his voice, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. There was absolutely no doubt in his voice.

"It's just…" I hiccupped. "They all care about me in a way no one else ever did before. They're my family, Mater, and I don't know what I'd do if they…"

"But ya see, you just said it," he said.

I lifted my head away from his chest to look up at him. "Huh?"

He smiled at me. "You said they care about you. And if they care about you, they won't mind this." With that, he took hold of both of my hands in his, bought them to his lips and kissed them.

"Us," he finished.

He was right. I guess there wasn't much else I could do but trust our friends, and tell them the truth. They meant the world to me, everyone who lived in this town did, and I knew they cared about the things that went on in one another's lives. Not in a nosy way, but in a family-caring type of way. And if Mater and I were happy together, then I think they'd be happy to know.

I sighed once again, but this time in a happy manner. "Thanks, Mater," I said. He just smiled and nodded

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"Mater?"

"Yeah?"

I shifted my head a little bit for a more comfortable spot on his lap. "How long have you… had feelings for me?" I asked a little hesitantly.

The hand that he had running through my hair stopped moving for a moment, then started again.

"Why?" he asked. I shrugged. It had been one of those things I would ask myself while he was away at work. I just hadn't remembered to ask him until now.

"I'm just curious, I guess," I told him truthfully. "I mean, that night on the porch couldn't have been when you first felt anything for me, you know?"

For a good couple of seconds, he didn't reply. I almost had to wonder if the question had bothered him. I couldn't imagine why it would, though…

"I don't know… exactly," he said out of nowhere, almost causing me to jump. "But… I think I dun did realize it what it was that night you was taken away by all those media folk."

My eyes widened.

"Really?" I asked incredulously.

"Really," he answered. "I remember watchin' as they all left with you, I thought I was never gonna see you again, and I just… gosh, I don't think I'd ever felt so sad in my entire life. And I just realized how I felt, especially when I saw you again the next day at the race."

My god. I lifted myself from hid lap so that I could look at him. He looked at me, confused as to why I got up.

"Mater…" I breathed. "You felt that way for that long? All this time?" I questioned. He simply nodded as though it were nothing. "But… you'd only known me for a few days, and for most of that I treated you like crap!"

He just smiled. "Aw no, ya see from the first time I met you, I could always see the person that ya are now under the person that you were then," he said to me. But…

"But you never said anything," I said. "You never told me, and all that encouraging with Sally and I…" I couldn't finish. Sally and I… how horrible must it have been to watch the two of us happy together while he just stood near us, not saying anything.

Mater's smile remained, but now it seemed a bit a sad. "You was happy," he said simply. "I didn't wanna tell you nothin' that woulda wrecked it for you. And I knew you liked Miss Sally, so that was…"

He stopped for a moment and looked down. I looked at him worriedly. But he looked back up and finished what he was saying, "That was what I encouraged ya to go after."

I couldn't believe it. "Mater, I –,"

He held up a hand, silencing me. He shook his head and said, "Now don't go apologizin' for nothin'. There's nothin' you did but be happy, and I have no regrets. Things are the way I used to wish they would be."

For a good few moments, nothing was said. It was just so hard to think that all that time, he loved me. I never noticed, never even saw anything odd in the way he acted around me. But then again, he probably made sure that I wouldn't. But… to look on at the one you love be happy with someone else… I just couldn't imagine.

"And Lightnin', I… I wanna tell you something," he said uneasily. I looked at him, worried.

"When you and Miss Sally… ya know, split up," he began. He was nervous, I could tell. Both of his hands were fidgeting with each other, and I placed one of mine atop them.

He took a breath and continued. "When that happened, I… I didn't feel bad. I… was sorta happy."

My eyes widened at his words. I didn't know he was capable of feeling something like that. But now as I looked at him, he looked as if he felt bad for it, and it almost looked like he was about to cry.

"And I… I felt so terrible for that. I couldn't even talk to either of ya for a whole day," he told me.

Now that he said it, I remember now how I couldn't get a hold f him the day after the breakup. And I remember because… I had really wanted his company since I had felt horrible about everything.

"Mater, I understand," I said softly. I didn't understand entirely, but I think that I would've felt the same way if I had been in his position.

"You're not mad?" he asked.

I placed a hand on his cheek and looked at him straight in the eye. "No," I whispered. "I'm not. And…"

I swung one leg over his lap and kept the other where it was, straddling him. With my hands on both of his shoulders, I leaned downward to press my lips against his. He returned the gesture quite heartily, wrapping his arms around my midsection.

But after a few seconds, I pulled away. "No matter what happened…"

I pushed his flannel off of his shoulders, and off his body.

"… in the past…" My hands slid down to his waist and pulled up on the muscle shirt he had on underneath, and I allowed him to take it the rest of the way off. My hands then came to rest on his chest, and I leaned in to kiss his neck.

"… right now…" I breathed onto his skin, making him shiver a little bit.

I kissed a lower spot on his neck. "… I'm yours…"

Another kiss, this time on his chest. But of us began to breathe a little heavier. But I stopped for a moment to look at him.

"Forever and a day, Mater," I finished. "You don't have to be without me anymore. I'll be here with you forever."

And I truly, truly meant it.

He let out a small chuckle, smiling up at me. He reached up and placed both of his hands on either side of my face.

"I love you…" he said with such a timeless happiness in his tone. He pulled me down and kissed me, filling me with all of his emotions at once. All of the peace, joy, love, and everything else he was feeling melted into me, mirroring the feelings that were rushing through me.

I love you too, Mater. With all that I am, I love you.


	6. And We Spoke to You

A/N: I'm back again! and actually within a reasonably amount of time XD. but yeah, I finally got this chapter out of my notebook and typed up on the computer, and now it's posted. wheeeee -is proud of self- anyway though, a little bit more drama in this chappie. and cheesy clishes as well, isn't that cool? ahahahaha.

oh and you know I realized that I never really thanked you all for your reviews before! OO I am ahsamed. but THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! you're what keeps me posting, and I love hearing what all of you think of this story :D Makes me smile all the time. I appreciate it SO much! many hugs!

Disclaimer: see chapter one.

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"There Was Only You and Me"

Chapter VI - "And We Spoke to You"

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When I woke up the next morning, he wasn't there. Looking over at the clock in the kitchen, I realized why. It was already past nine, and I had slept in. I guess he just didn't want to wake me up on his way out. Though I wished he had so that I could've at least seen him off.

But I guess I would have to visit him at work later today to make up for it. I hoisted myself up off the couch, where we had ended up sleeping again. And, once again, I had to pick up my clothing from the floor on my way to the bathroom.

A few minutes later as I stepped into the shower, I began to think. Last night we agreed to let our friends know about what was going on between us. When and how, was something we hadn't discussed, though. It made me nervous just to think about it. Even though Mater convinced me to trust our friends with this, it still made my stomach lurch every time I thought about telling them. But I'm sure Mater was just as nervous about it as I was.

But you know, at the same time that I was nervous, I was also sort of… excited, in a really anxious way. I mean, if they did accept it, then things would be absolutely perfect. We wouldn't have to worry about it anymore, and Mater and I wouldn't have to hide anything. He wouldn't have to leave here to early in the morning, we could be open with how we feel, and maybe he could even move in here…

I had to stifle a childish giggle at the thought. How nice would it be to have him here all of the time like that?

I was smiling as I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower.

You know, I don't think I've ever smiled so much in my life. Every second I'm with him, I'm smiling, and when I think about him I smile. But who wouldn't? He's just got such a happy persona that fuses itself into you. And… I just felt so damn lucky to have him.

Later, once I was finished eating and my hair had dried out, I threw on a shirt and headed outside. I had gotten my car back from Doc last week, and was now parked in my driveway. But it would be silly to drive it such a short distance, so I decided to walk.

I didn't think much as I made my way over to the junkyard. Mainly I just admired the scenery, and waved to people going by. It seemed like quite a while before I got there, but once I did get there, I checked to make sure he wasn't outside. When I didn't see him, I walked over to the shed, but as I got closer to the doorway, I heard someone laughing.

A woman's voice laughing. And Mater's laughter mixed in as well.

Confused, I made my way into the shed, and was finally able to see Mater and the other person over by one of the junk piles. Mater had his back to me, and it wasn't until the girl noticed me that I saw who it was.

It was Sally. She looked over at me with her bright aquamarine eyes, alight with happiness to see me. She smiled and waved with a pleasant, "Hey, Lightning!"

Mater spun around at her words, and his entire face lit up. "Hey, buddy!" he exclaimed, waving as well.

I smiled and walked over to them. I voiced a happy 'hello', and had to hold back on making physical contact with Mater as I stepped up next to him. I was so used to hugging or kissing him as a greeting now that it was like a reflex. But I obviously couldn't do that now, so I just kept to myself.

"So what're you guys going?" I asked casually.

"Oh, I just stopped by to give Mater a hand," Sally stated. "Business over at the Cozy Cone was unusually slow today, so I figured, why not?"

Mater nodded in agreement.

"So what brings you here?" she then asked.

Oh, that was a great question. Well let's see, I'm really here because I wanted to see Mater, since I slept in this morning and didn't get to see him before he left my house. Basically, I missed him.

"Oh, I… same thing as you," I managed. "Just thought I'd stop by and help him out over here."

I was lying to her again, and it really did make me feel terrible. He was my friend, and here I was spitting lies out at her.

But she just nodded, then turned to Mater and smiled. "Well it looks like you don't have much to worry about today, Mater," she said to him.

He smiled as well. "Nope, doesn't seem so," he replied happily. "Not so long's I got friends like you guys."

Oh how I wanted to hug him right then and there. He was just so… nice. Nothing new to me, but still.

So we all set to work, piling the things that were in piles into boxes, organizing them for later use. We chatted about this and that, and I found myself having fun. I had to admit that when I saw Sally there, I was kind of disappointed that I couldn't be alone with Mater. But I actually sorta preferred this, the three of us spending time together. It was nice.

A while later, Mater was called outside by a customer. He told us he'd be back in a minute to help in a few minutes, and left the shed. I stared after him for too long.

"Lightning?" Sally questioned, noticing.

I jumped. "Huh?" I replied, spinning around.

She looked at me for the longest time, and it started to unnerve me a bit. It almost seemed like she was reading me or something, finding out everything I was keeping from her. I wished she would at least say something.

My wish was granted. "You know, Lightning, I've been wanting to – ah!"

She had taken a step toward me, and all of a sudden, she was falling. Instantly, I reached out to catch her so that she wouldn't end up on the dirt floor. Her hands clamped onto my arms as I managed to grab hold of her shoulders.

"What was _that_ about?" I gasped out.

She looked up at me, looking embarrassed. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said. "I twisted my ankle yesterday, I guess it's still a bit wea-,"

Her sentence came to a halt, and her gaze drifted past me. My stomach dropped to my feet as I realized the only thing she would be looking at. But I _prayed_ that I was wrong…

Slowly, I turned my head to look, and I could only hold back a groan as I saw Mater standing there. He looked surprised, but hurt as well. Oh, God no. This couldn't be happening; there was no way I was actually caught in one of those cliché-romance-movie accidents.

In one quick movement, I separated myself from Sally, all the while never breaking my gaze from his.

How I wanted to speak, tell him something. Anything. But all I managed out was his name.

This seemed to bring him around, though, for he finally moved, and his shocked expression melted into a calm one. As though nothing had fazed him at all. But then he smiled a smile so fake that it made me want to vomit.

"Sorry," he said "I just, uh… the customer's callin' again… I'll be back." And with that, he just turned and walked back out.

I stood there, completely thunderstruck. I wanted to chase after him, but I was frozen stuff, staring wide-eyed at the empty doorway. This was bad… so very, very bad. Mater thought I was doing something with Sally behind his back, but… how could he believe that?

Didn't he trust me? But then, I guess the fact that Sally and I were once an item didn't help in the least bit.

Finally coming to my senses, I rushed out of the shed and looked around for him. He wasn't anywhere in sight, so I walked further into the junkyard. I almost had to wonder if he had gone home, but then I found him behind the shed, leaning his back up against it. His head was hung low, his gaze locked on the ground. I couldn't see his face at all.

"Mater," I spoke tentatively. His head snapped up, his expression almost frightened. But… why would he be scared?

I took a step toward him, and he visibly flinched. This hurt me.

"Mater, I…" I tried, taking another hesitant step. "You gotta believe me, nothing was… Sally and I, we…"

Why couldn't I say it? Why was it so hard to tell him that it was all misunderstanding? I opened my mouth, but then closed it dejectedly. This was only causing him to look even more hurt now, and that didn't help my nerves at all.

"Nothing was going on, Mater."

I jumped, the voice startling me. I looked over to my left to see where it had come from, and my eyes widened as I saw Sally standing there. She walked a bit closer to us, and looked over at Mater, who looked just as shocked to see her there as I was.

"We were talking, I tripped, and Lightning caught me," she explained to him in a serious tone.

Then she turned to me, and all my questions as to why she was there, why she was doing this, why she would _know _to do this… they were all answered. Her eyes were knowing, telling me that… she understood. She knew. My heart rate quickened, and I was suddenly extremely nervous. But then… she smiled. She then walked over to me and took my hand. I raised an eyebrow at her, but she just turned around and walked me over to Mater. Then she took one of his hands in her free one, and gently placed his atop mine.

For a moment, she held her hand there. But when Mater slowly enclosed his fingers around my hand, she let go.

Mater and I looked up at one another, smiling softly. Misunderstandings forgotten completely. We then looked over at Sally, who stood beaming at us.

Mater took a step away from the shed, toward me, and I intertwined our fingers together. I felt so entirely happy… Sally knew, and she was happy for us. She had helped us as well.

"Thank you, Sally," I said to her, feeling truly grateful to have her as a friend. She just smiled and nodded in response. She then came closer to the both of us, and first gave Mater a hug, and then me.

"Good luck," was she said before turning and leaving. It was all she needed to say, though. And it meant so much.

Mater gave my hand a squeeze, and I let my head fall onto his shoulder as we stood there.

"I'm sorry, Lightnin',"

I looked up at him, confused. "For what?"

His eyes met mine. "For not trustin' ya. I shouldn't'a thought you was doin' somethin' with Sally," he said, and I could tell her really felt bad. "I know you would never do that, but… when I saw you two, it was like one of my nightmares come ta life, n' I just assumed the worst…"

I reached up my other hand t his face, pushing some loose hair back behind his ear affectionately before settling it on his cheek. "It's fine, Mater. I don't really blame you for assuming the worst," I told him.

He smiled. "You're too good ta me," he spoke gently.

We stood there for a moment more in silence, just enjoying the happiness that we both felt. But after a few moments, we looked at each other, knowing that tonight was the night. Sally knew now, so everyone else had to as well.

I told him this, and he nodded firmly. I took a deep breath and gripped his hand tighter.


	7. To Have Everything

A/N: hey guys! I be back:D longer chapter here for you all, just 'cause I love ya! once again, reviews are all beautiful! keep 'em coming, because I know you all love me XD. but yeah, I had a LOT of fun writing this chapter, it made me smile the entire time. so yeah, here you all go! and I'm pretty sure there will be only one more chapter after this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Cars or its characters. Nor do I own the song, "Wishes" by Lari White. (though I do recommend listening to it, if you can, during the last part of this chapter).

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"There Was Only You and Me"

Chapter VII - "To Have Everything"

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Mater and I agreed to wait until later than evening when everyone gathered at Flo's. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday everyone went to the café after closing hours to just sit and relax, and talk to one another about the day. It had always been one of the things I looked forward to the most during the week, just sitting in the dimly-lit room with everyone in town, talking for hours about everything and nothing.

And now I never thought I would feel so nervous about walking through those doors. It was still a couple of hours before closing time, but I still felt anxious. Mater had decided to close early that day, and came home with me, just so we could spend time together. I told him he didn't have to, but he insisted, and I was actually very glad he was here now. His presence was helping to ease my nerves a lot, and I was thankful for it.

So here we were on the couch again. He had himself propped up on the pillows, and I sat next to him, my arms around his middle and my head resting in the crook of his neck. One of his hands played idly with my hair while the other was on my shoulder. Lord how I loved just sitting here with him like this, quiet and warm. I never knew sitting and doing nothing could hold such pleasure, but I guess when you're doing nothing with the one you love, it's not really nothing.

"Mater?"

"Mm?"

"No matter what happens…" I paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. "We'll always have each other, right?"

It was a little random, and not a matter that worried be to the point of insomnia or anything, but…

"Of course we will, Lightnin'," he responded almost instantly, as if he didn't even need to think about it. "But… whaddaya mean 'no matter what happens'?"

For a while, I didn't answer. It had meant one thousand different things, really. But I guess what we were planning on doing later tonight was what made the question surface in my mind.

"Nothing really," I lied. But Mater didn't question it, and we fell silent once again. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

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Mater shook me awake who knew how much longer later. Mumbling something even I didn't understand, I snuggled closer to him for a moment. He gently nudged me again, and I sleepily opened my eyes. I moved my head so that I could look up at him, and he looked about as drowsy as I must have. I guess he fell asleep too.

I yawned, lifted myself from him, and stretched.

"It's almost ten," he stated.

My eyes widened. "I slept that long?"

He nodded. "We both did," he replied. "But that just means you're nice n' comfy! Come 'ere!" And before I had time to react, he had pulled me into his arms, laughing happily.

"Hey!" I chuckled out as my head came to rest upon his chest. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, the both of us laughing.

After a few moments, we calmed down, our laughter subsiding and our bodies falling limp atop one another's. We were pretty much in the same position we started in, but I wasn't about to complain. I wished we could stay like this all night, but I knew we couldn't.

I hoisted myself up off of him, and met his gaze as I did so. Leaning in, I gave him a quick kiss, and then moved myself off of the couch. I reached out a hand to him, which he took and I helped him up. But once he was on his feet, he smiled, and pulled me to him by the hand I had offered, and our lips met for a second time.

My longing to stay home only got stronger, half because I didn't want to do what he had to do tonight, but mostly because I _really_ didn't wanna move. But because we both knew we had to leave, we broke apart, looked at one another for a moment, and took his hand in mine, and left the house.

But of course I had to let go of it once on the sidewalk in front of the house.

"Mater! McQueen!"

We both looked over to see who had called our names, finding Sheriff, Luigi and Guido all on the other side of the street. Sheriff was the one who had called to us, and was waving us over to him. We obliged, walking quickly across the street to the three of them, who all smiled in greeting.

"You boys are headin' over to Flo's, right?" Sheriff asked.

I answered with a yes, and Mater nodded.

"Well then, let's a-go!" Luigi said excitedly in his thick Italian accent. Guido just stayed silent, but smiling happily.

We ended up walking the rest of the way together, the five of us. Mater took to talking to Sheriff about his truck acting up (again), while Luigi enthusiastically told me about a huge sale he had made that day.

When we got there, it seemed to me that everyone else in town was already inside, us being the last ones there. Sheriff, Guido, and Luigi walked in ahead of Mater and I, and for a split second before walking in, we looked at each other in a reassuring fashion. And then we went in, and greeted everyone happily.

Near the middle of the room, Sally waved to us from an empty table. As usual, we went and sat down with her. It had just always been some unwritten rule that the three of us sat together in the café. Just like Flo and Ramone, Sarge and Fillmore, Guido and Luigi, Sheriff and Doc, and Red and Lizzie.

My 'number one fans', Tia and Mia were here as well, now working as waitresses in the café, and had become apart of the Radiator Springs family as well. They took to being the ones who serves refreshments at these get together nights, which I had always considered quite nice of them, since it was past working hours. But they said they enjoyed it.

"So…" Sally spoke after a few minutes. "How are you two?"

She had had a tone that told me she was asking a bit more than how the day went.

"Well shoot, Miss Sally, ya just saw us today," Mater answered. I guess he didn't catch it.

Sally and I laughed.

I mellowed my expression then into a soft smile. "We're great," I said. "We…"

I looked up at Mater, and he met my gaze.

"… really are."

I smiled at him, and looked back at Sally, who smiled as well. And from then on she asked us about this and that about Mater and I, and just little things that a friend like her should know about. And it felt so nice to tell her about it all.

But then she asked, "No one else knows, do they?"

Mater and I glanced at each other and then looked down at the table. But you know… we said we'd tell them here and now. No more being afraid.

"They're about to find out," I said to Sally as I stood up from my seat, turning to face the rest of the room. Mater tugged at my shirtsleeve and muttered my name as if to ask if I was really gonna do what he thought I was gonna do. Bit I ignored him. So, putting two fingers to my lips, I whistled as loud as I could, and it worked. Everyone in the café stopped whatever it was they were doing or saying, and looked over at me.

For a moment I was frozen, but I quickly regained my composure and cleared my throat. "Hey there, everyone!" I spoke, waving to them all nervously. They all greeted back cheerily.

I waited for them to go quiet again, and with my heart pounding wildly in my chest, I said, "I… I would like to make an announcement."

They all looked on at my silently in reply. Mater had already let go of my sleeve, but I longed for it to be there, just for some sort of comfort. I knew I had to do it though, there was no turning back now. I took a breath and let it out.

"M-Mater… and I, we're…"

I looked down at him for just a moment, and he smiled at me.

That was all I needed. I smiled back, took his hand in mine, and finished, "We're together."

It was an agonizingly long handful of seconds that passed. I swore time stood still after I got the words out, waiting with a painful knot in my stomach for their reaction. I felt Mater's hand tighten around mine.

Then I was surrounded by a loud sound. It took a moment for my mind to register with everyone's hands coming together to realize… they were clapping! Someone was even cheering out loud. Sally ended up telling me later that Doc was the first to start clapping, and I would have to thank him later for that, but… they were happy! They weren't upset, they… they were all smiling so joyfully, and clapping for us! Mater and I!

At some point, Mater had stood up alongside me, hugging me to him. He said something about being proud of me, but I was unable to hear exactly what he had said, the sound of the cheering overwhelming my senses. But nevertheless, I returned the hug with much enthusiasm, happy as could be. It felt as though the weight of a freight train had been taken off of my shoulders, now able to embrace him in front of everyone else.

Completely unbelievable, it was. I felt so elated that I swore I could've reached the sky if I tried. But what was so wonderful about it was that I knew that even if I couldn't make it all the way there, my friends would always be there to catch me, no matter what.

Mater and I separated and put our arms around each other's shoulders. But then Flo stood up.

"Well it's obvious what we gotta do know, y'all!" she exclaimed, quieting everyone for a moment.

"We gotta dedicate the rest of tonight to the new couple!" And with that, everyone started cheering again, in agreement now. She then came over to the two of us, gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and repeated the gesture with Mater. She spoke a good luck to us, and then walked over to the twins and said something I couldn't hear to them. They smiled, nodded, and went back into the kitchen. A good few minutes later, they came back with large trays carrying wine glasses and bottles. They set the trays down on a table, filled up each glass with wine, and everyone grabbed themselves a glass.

Sally climbed atop one of the chairs, raised her glass in the air and shouted, "A toast to our two good friends, Lightning and Mater! May they have the best time together with the best of luck!"

Cheers erupted from everyone again, accompanied by the clanging of glass on glass as we all banged our cups together. I took a big swig from mine while I watched Mater take only a little sip. I chuckled, knowing he couldn't hold his liquor very well.

"Hey Kid," I heard a gruff voice from the left of me say. I turned to see Doc standing there, wine glass in his hand and a small grin on his face.

"Hey, Doc," I replied.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" he asked.

This took me a bit by surprise, but the nonetheless I replied with a, "Yeah, sure."

He cocked his head toward the other side of the room. "Come on," he said, and turned and started walking away from everyone else. I knew it would be hopeless to question or try to stop him, so I just followed. He stopped at the wall and stood silent for a while. Then he looked me right in the eye.

"I wanted to give you my personal congrats, Hotshot. And… well, I gotta say that you never cease to amaze me."

Well that was unexpected. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I mean… well, I don't mean to be rude, I love the boy to death, but… Mater isn't the sharpest one out there, and he sure isn't gonna be in the running for next year's Miss America pageant. So the fact that you see enough in him _beneath_ all that to say that you love him –." He paused. "You _do _love him, right?"

"Yeah, I do."

He smiled. "Well I'm proud of you, kid. And I'm happy for you, for the both of you. I guess I'm jus saying that it's wonderful that you've learned to look past physical beauty. I've known that Mater had taken a lot more than a shine to you –,"

"You did?" I asked incredulously.

He nodded. "He told me. It was really bothering him, but he made me swear not to tell you. And then you and Sally separated, and now this. I'm just really glad you were able to let yourself have this happiness with him. If I know anything, it's that Mater will make you happier than you've ever felt."

I smiled, my respect for the man before me only increasing.

"He… already has, Doc," I said. He didn't seem surprised, but just nodded and patted me on the back.

"The best of luck you ya, Kid."

"Thanks Doc," I said. And with that, he turned and rejoined everyone else. For a moment, I remained there just watching everyone having a good time, thinking to myself. It was still a bit of a shock, and I was still trying to get used to the fact that everyone was happy for Mater and I.

After a few more seconds, I rejoined Mater near the center of the room, who was looking around for me.

"Where'd ya run off to?" he asked once I was next to him.

"Doc just wanted to talk to me," I told him, slipping my arm around his waist casually.

"'Bout what?"

I shrugged. "Just saying his congratulations. He said… he was proud of me for allowing myself to find happiness with you."

Mater raised an eyebrow. "What did he mean by that?" he questioned. I just laughed.

"Just means that I'm darn well the luckiest guy in the world right now," I said teasingly, holding him closer to me. Mater laughed.

After that, the party continued on… well, everyone _treated_ it like a party, anyway. Ramone had put on some upbeat music over the speakers that usually played softer music while the café was open. Everyone was walking around, talking loudly t one another over the music. Sheriff and Red at one point cleared the café of all the chairs and tables, pushing them all to the sides of the room, making a makeshift dance floor.

Ramone and Flo were the first to go out and dance. Mater tugged at my shirtsleeve, and I looked over at him. He gestured with his head to the dance floor. I widened my eyes at him.

"No," I said firmly, shaking my head. "I don't dance."

He laughed. "Don't, or can't?"

"I _don't_ dance," I snapped jokingly. Sally and Doc were dancing now.

Ignoring me, Mater just took hold of my hand that was closest to him, and just started walking forward. I tugged back.

"Mater, no!" I exclaimed between laughs. But he ignored me, and didn't turn around until we were in the middle of the room. He grinned, took both of my hands, and started moving back and forth to the country music that sounded through the room.

"I don't know the steps," I tried desperately, now feeling everyone's eyes on us. I felt embarrassed just standing there.

"There ain't no steps, you just gotta go with it!" he told me.

At this point, I knew I didn't have a choice, so I bit down on my lip, and hesitantly began to move to the beat of the music. I figured I'd be best off copying what Mater was doing, so that's what I did. And after a few seconds – much to my surprise – it became easy. My body seemed to form a mind of its own and just went with the music, and my awkwardness disappeared. It was my first time dancing, I'll admit, but it was really a lot of fun.

We ended up dancing to three more songs, and others joined in. It was now obvious to me that there was quite the majority of men in town. Guido and Luigi had started dancing with one another, as well as Sarge and Fillmore (who I have to say looked like they were enjoying themselves quite a bit… I almost had to wonder…). But some others danced by themselves, or just not at all.

And then a much slower, but still sort of upbeat song began to play. Twangy slide guitar, followed by a woman's voice, "_If wishes were horses, I'd ride a fast one. If wishes were blue skies, I'd never get rained on_…"

I felt Mater put one arm around my waist, while he took his other hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. "Now put your other hand on my shoulder there," he then said, and I did as told. He then began rocking slowly back and forth to the music with me now pressed against him.

"_I whisper your name on each star I see fallin'. That old wishing well gets each penny I find. And every year I blow out every candle, and close my eyes and wish you were mine..."_

It was hard for me to not get completely lost in the music. With Mater's warmth surrounding me, the soft, flowing music, and just the overall atmosphere of the room… it was all so comfortable, yet exhilarating. I let my head fall against Mater's chest, my eyes drifting shut.

"_If wishes were wings, I'd fly wild and free. If wishes were trains, I'd be on the last one. Oh if wishes came true, you'd be lovin' me…"_

I sighed contentedly.

"Hey Lightnin'?" Mater whispered.

"Hmm?"

He hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Lightnin', I… I know'd ya pretty much know this already, but… I ain't never felt this way about anyone before," he said to me. This seemed a bit random, but still made my heart flutter. I didn't reply though, and just waited for him to continue.

"N' well…" he chuckled lightly. "I don't really know how ta go about sayin' this…"

I opened my eyes bit. "What is it?"

He paused for a moment again. "Well I… I wanna spend the rest of my life with you, I really do," he said nervously. I felt his heartbeat pick up underneath my ear. A little confused, I looked up at him. What was he…?

"Lightnin'," he spoke, a deepness in his eyes that I couldn't recognize. "I was wonderin'… if ya would do me the honor of havin' me as your husband."

…

My mind went completely blank. Shut down completely. I stopped moving, frozen in place, and unable to do anything else but stare at him, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

Oh… my God.

He… did he?

He asked… me to… oh, I couldn't even think it!

I was so shocked that I couldn't feel anything _but_ shock. There was no capacity for any other feeling at that moment.

But… he… oh, God.

This was just… so unbelievable! And… and, beyond _anything_ that I could ever imagine happening to me.

"Mater, I…" was all I was able to manage out before choking back a sob. God, I felt so happy, it was making me cry!

"Yes!" I cried joyfully. "Yes, of course!" And with that, I lunged myself at him, throwing my arms around his neck, and burying my face in his shirt. He almost fell backwards in surprise, but was able to regain his balance, and wrapped his arms around me, laughing happily. As for me, I was between laughing and crying.

I could barely think. Marriage… me, married! Oh God, it was insane! But… along with the extreme amount of happiness that I was feeling, I also felt a tad bit nervous. But I think that was a normal thing.

I broke away from Mater and ran over to the nearest chair, dragging him behind me. Climbing on top of it, I whistled like I had earlier to get everyone's attention. It worked again, all of them turning to look up at me. I squeezed Mater's hand.

Proudly, I held up our hands and shouted, "Everyone… we're getting married!"

In an instant, I was surround by cheers and clapping for the second time that night, though even more enthusiastic than before. I hopped down from the chair, and hugged Mater to me with as much energy as I could muster. Everyone then came over to us, slapping us on our backs, giving us hugs, and saying things like "congratulations", "way to go", and "good luck". And it was as if all of their excitement was fusing itself into me, because I know felt happy enough to count for everyone in the café.

That night, Mater and I walked back to my house together, my arm linked with his, and my body pressed as close to his as possible. We didn't say anything the entire time, but it wasn't a bad thing. Unlike the night that this all began, in his truck on the way back to town, when we had fallen into an uncomfortable silence.

A lot had changed since that night. A _whole_ lot.

I smiled to myself, completely and utterly blissful with the world. Everything was perfect, and it seemed as though nothing could destroy it. I had Mater, I had all of my friends. I couldn't ask for more.


End file.
